HF Bead Blast Cabinets, how are they today?

Seeing as how I still have two 20% off coupons left and the HF blast cabinet I bought 15 years ago is offically shot and in need of replacement or serious refurbishing, how is the current lineup of HF blast cabinets? Any recommendations?

The one I have leaked media. A lot. I pookied and duct taped it, but eventually just stuck it outside under a tarp. I got my money out of it many times over, but I would not want it inside my shop. The glass beads just went everywhere. Sitting outside sort of did it in. I replaced the gloves a couple times, and they are shot again. Plus the glass media is pretty water soaked right now because my tarp decomposed from the UV.

So, how are the newer HF blast cabinates? Do they leak media? I prefer to use glass bead media, also available at HF. WIll it blow out the seals? I see a couple of different cabinets. Does one work better than another? I can't afford a $1K real bead blast cabinet. I don't really use it enough to justify it either. Anyone got some linky-linkies to one they recommend?

I have one I bought about three or four years ago. It is the full size stand up model that I paid about $200.00 US for. I think they have changed it some since then. I used the snot out of it for about two years and have no complaints other than my compressor sucks but that is another story. (It is 1950's vintage) It still has the original gloves on it. It doesn’t leak media. The light could be brighter but I put it under a Fluorescent shop light when in use.

A couple of things I do that may help you out, I use cheap HF vice grip knock offs to hold small parts so I don’t blast my gloves. I also put the entire unit on a board with casters so I can move it around and even outside if I need to. Kitty litter buckets are great for storing extra media in and you can put them on that shelf with a small vacuum and have a nice self-contained unit less the compressor.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=42202

I have this one. It works great, and leaks media great also. I have used it with beads and harsher abrasives with no problems other than media leaking out the bottom. It doesn't seem to leak out of the door, but all the seams in the cabinet. This is the main reason my lathe and mill now have covers over them. Abrasives and lathe ways don't mix too well. One of these days I need to tear it down and seal the whole thing with NP1.

For lighting, I have found it better to put a light in the cabinet and turn off the shop lights. Getting rid of the glare on the outside of the glass helps tremendously.

Edit: the other problem I have with it is the sides on the hopper aren't steep enough. I have to keep shaking the cabinet to keep the sand around the pickup. It really becomes a problem after half of the sand is on the floor of the shop.

I've got the big standup one. The only complaint I have is that the hose to the gun was slightly oversize for the barb it was attached two. After a couple of blowouts, I replaced it with a short length of air hose. No media leakage as far as I can tell, although I did fix up some poor caulking on the interior when assembling it. That bit of attention might have been the secret.

Toyman01 wrote: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=42202 I have this one. It works great, and leaks media great also. I have used it with beads and harsher abrasives with no problems other than media leaking out the bottom. It doesn't seem to leak out of the door, but all the seams in the cabinet. This is the main reason my lathe and mill now have covers over them. Abrasives and lathe ways don't mix too well. One of these days I need to tear it down and seal the whole thing with NP1. For lighting, I have found it better to put a light in the cabinet and turn off the shop lights. Getting rid of the glare on the outside of the glass helps tremendously. Edit: the other problem I have with it is the sides on the hopper aren't steep enough. I have to keep shaking the cabinet to keep the sand around the pickup. It really becomes a problem after half of the sand is on the floor of the shop.

I'll echo his experience with leakage. I tested it for about 30 seconds then dumped it and re-sealed every joint. I eventually also put duct tape over the flanges that hold the gloves and taped up a t-shirt on the back over the vent to act as a filter. Otherwise it's OK for a cheap cabinet with a cheap draft-tube gun.

Aside from all the leakage......do they do a fairly good job?

The one I have (and am retiring) is almost identical to this one:

The color is different. Besides leaking, even after I took it all apart and sealed everything, it does work. Takes lots of air, of course, and my 4HP compressor has to build up sometimes, but it does OK.

So, the one you guys say doesn't leak is this one?

I have that one.

It leaks.

I have that one. It doesn't leak at all Purchased this spring and I haven't got a lot of hours on it at this point as I've been out of the garage.

We've gone one of them at work as well, and it doesn't leak significantly. We've had it for about three years.

I have the stand up blaster pictured. I really like it and it does not leak media out the bottom, but it does leak dust while blasting. I keep mine outside under a lean to for just this reason. If I kept it inside I'd install a dust collector and hope that would resolve most of the dust stuation.

I should point out that I have a shop vac plugged into the vent port to deal with the dust problem. Between that and the attention to caulking, it works. They're not rocket science.

I do run a shop vac when the dusting inside the cabinet starts to block my vision, but a lot of times I'm blasting small parts and there isn't a need for it. A shop vac works okay, but I think a dedicated dust collection system would work better. Regardless, they do need a little help to be perfect, but it is hard to beat for the price.

I was down at the HF store (man, that place is dangerous), picking up a medium sized pipe wrench because the Faries hid the one I have, and I eye-balled that stand alone blast cabinet. It was on sale through today for $220, regularly three bills. Throw in my 20% off coupon from GRM and for $192 out the door, it's mine. I'll add a tube of pookie when I put it together. I forgot the sand, but that's OK, I'm sure I'll be back.

Dr. Hess wrote: I was down at the HF store (man, that place is dangerous),

never heard truer words